[Public Voices] The Key to New Growth Engines: Small Business Exports

Park Sung-hyo, Chairman of the Small Enterprise and Market Service

Several years ago, the Korean product ‘HOMI’ appeared in the top 10 gardening tools on Amazon, a globally renowned American online shopping mall, sparking a sensation. Made by a small craftsman in Yeongju, Gyeongbuk, the product is much more convenient and durable than traditional seedling shovels, gaining word-of-mouth popularity among gardeners in the US and Europe and becoming a hit product that was hard to keep in stock. The reason HOMI could be sold from Yeongju, Korea to foreigners overseas was because a product with excellent quality was listed on Amazon. This case, which expanded sales channels beyond Korea to overseas markets, demonstrated that small business owners can be competitive in international markets.

The Small Enterprise and Market Service has actively promoted education, export academies, consulting, and business meetings with export-related organizations such as the Federation of Korean Associations in the Americas, as well as overseas exhibitions, to support promising small business owners and small craftsmen in entering overseas markets. As a result, approximately $5.19 million in export performance was achieved last year.

The overseas expansion of small business owners surprisingly holds a significant portion of South Korea’s economy. According to data published by Statistics Korea, as of 2022, the number of small business export companies was about 53,000, accounting for 55.8% of all export companies, exceeding half. From 2016 to 2022, it has shown a steady growth rate of 0.5% annually. Nevertheless, compared to large and medium-sized enterprises, its importance is not well known, which small business owners met in the field find regrettable.

Fortunately, on July 3rd, the government announced a comprehensive plan for small business owners and self-employed individuals, which includes close support for the export and market expansion of promising small business owners. First, for small business owners struggling with exports due to lack of information, export academies will be expanded in collaboration with institutions such as KOTRA and the Korea International Trade Association, and combined online and offline training will be provided to enter global e-commerce platforms like Alibaba and Shopee. Consulting linked with export experts and vouchers will be supported to strengthen export capabilities such as translation, design, and promotional material production.

Additionally, various opportunities will be provided to help promising small business owners with good products pioneer overseas markets. In August, an offline permanent beauty store will open at Vincom Mega Mall Royal City, a large shopping mall located in Hanoi, Vietnam. A total of 200 beauty and health-related small craftsman companies will be housed in this store. Support will be provided for producing introduction materials, matching with overseas buyers, and interpretation to enable excellent small business owners to participate in various exhibitions held in five countries including Vietnam and Taiwan. Furthermore, overseas pop-up stores, dedicated pavilions at the World Korean Business Convention, and the overseas hosting of the September Companion Festival will be held to widely promote excellent small business owners’ products abroad.

This plan is expected to serve as an opportunity for Korea’s outstanding small business owners, small craftsmen, and cooperatives to expand widely overseas. Currently, South Korea faces a reality where it is difficult to survive by remaining only as a domestic market company due to population decline and aging. Therefore, the overseas expansion of small business owners must continue. If the government’s support policies can open the way for areas where individual efforts have limits, small business exports are likely to become a new growth engine for Korea.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.